President Donald Trump’s recent social media post—just one sentence from a historical film—has triggered a predictable wave of outrage from critics eager to cast him as a budding dictator.
“He who saves his country does not violate any law,” Trump posted to his social media accounts.
The phrase closely resembles a line from Waterloo, the 1970 film about Napoleon Bonaparte. In the movie, Napoleon, played by Rod Steiger, speaks the words while in exile on Elba, reflecting on his reign and defending his right to rule. The line is not a declaration that a ruler is above the law or licensed to commit crimes but a response to the accusation that his rise to power itself was unlawful. Napoleon argues that his leadership
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